•V^ 

High School 
Commencements 



By 

L. L. FRIEND 

Slate Supervisor of High Schools 




Published by 

The State Department of Schools 

M. P. SHAWKEY, Slate Superintendent 
Charleston, West Virginia 



High School 
Commencements 



By 

IV'^L. FRIEND 

State Supervisor of High Schools 




Published by 

The State Department of Schools 

M. P. SHAWKEY. State Superintendent 
Charleston, West Virginia 






1. ef D. 
JUL 26 1916 



HIGH SCHOOL COMMENCEMENTS 



In every community wh^re there is 
a high school, the annual high school 
commencement is one of the most im- 
portant events in all the year. In 
many communities it is the one 
occasion in the year that brings 
the people together in a general 
community gathering. It is, there- 
fore, an event that should be pre- 
pared for carefully and celebrated 
properly. 

There are perhaps three definite 
purposes that ought to be accom- 
plished through the high school com- 
mencement exercises. The first of 
these is to celebrate in a suitable 



way the graduation of pupils who 
have completed satisfactorily a 
prescribed course of study; the sec- 
ond is to bring before the people of 
the community definite, tangible evi- 
dence that the high school is a prof- 
itable community investment: and 
the third is to serve as an inspira- 
tion and a. spur to the pupils in the 
lower high school classes and in the 
grammar grades. Practically all ex- 
ercises connected with the high 
school commencement should, there- 
fore, lend themselves to the ac- 
complishment of one or the other 
or of all these purposes. Too often 
there is a manifest lack of plan and 
purpose in high school commence- 
ments. They are held apparently 
because custom requires that they 
be held, and nothing more definite 
is attempted than to furnish to the 
audience an evening's entertainment 
and to afford the members of the 
graduating class an opportunity to 
appear in perhaps too expensive 
clothes. 



Some Suggestions for the Ob- 

sekvakce of high school 

Commencements 

Clms Invitations 

The commencement invitations 
sent out by the members of the 
graduating class to their friends need 
not be elaborate or very expensive. 
A plain engraved invitation con- 
taining nothing in the way of dec- 
. oration but the school monogram 
neatly stamped on the face of the 
invitation at the top^ is in very good 
taste and is recommended. Ribbons 
and cords used as binders or elaborate 
decorations of any kind cheapen the 
appearance of an invitation and re- 
flect upon the taste of the members 
of the class. The invitation may 
give the class motto, the class colors 
and the name of the sponsor of the 
class, if there be one. The class roll 
may also be printed on the invita- 
tion, if the class is very small. If the 
class is large, the class roll may be 



i> 



printed separately and enclosed with 
the invitation. 



Graduating Costumes 

Very often^ in the case of gir 
graduates, particularly, graduation 
from high school is rendered so ex- 
pensive as to be burdensome to the 
parents of some of the graduates, by 
the foolish idea that the graduate 
must have an elaborate and expensive 
gown for the occasion. Both par- 
ents and teachers should do every- 
thing possible to discourage this idea. 
It not only entails needless ex- 
pense, but it causes embarrassment 
and pain to some graduates who 
must appear in plain clothes by the 
side of classmates whose parents are 
able to dress them in expensive 
graduating gowns. Eecently it has 
become the custom in many high 
schools in which sewing is taught 
to require all girls in the graduating 
class to make their own graduating 
dresses. This is an appropriate and 
commendable custom. The gray cap 



^ 



■in 



fe 



and gown are also used in many 
schools and have much to commend 
them. They form a costume that is 
distinctive and scholastic in ap- 
pearance; and they are inexpensive) 
since they may be rented from firms 
that carry a supply of them for that 
purpose. The cap and gown elim- 
inate the necessity of a special dress 
for commencement. 

Graduating Performances 

When high school graduates are 
required to prepare graduating 
essays or orations^ their productions 
should be original ; the subjects 
selected should be within the grasp 
of the pupil and the productions 
should be prepared carefully and 
well. They should grow out of some 
phase of high school work in which 
the pupil has been particularly in- 
terested and with which he has be- 
come familiar. It is a painful ex- 
perience to hear a seventeen-year-old 
high school girl read a long ^^orig- 
ina?^ essay on some abstract ques- 



8 



tion of government or diplomacy ex- 
pressed in the language of Benjamin 
Franklin or John Hay. And yet one 
hears that sort of thing almost every 
commencement season in some high 
schools. The principals who permit 
it are presuming perilously upon the 
intelligence and the patience of their 
patrons. Pupils should be required 
to practice their commencement per- 
formances under the direction of a 
teacher until they can deliver them 
in a creditable manner. Too many 
performances of this kind are de- 
livered in a singsong, slipshod style 
that indicates lack of preparation and 
training. 

The Place of Holding Commence- 
ment Exercises 

In many places the high school 
commencement exercises must be 
held in churches or halls. If pos- 
sible aJi auditorium should be se- 
cured that will accommodate all who 
will attend the exercises. An 
auditorium situated near railroad 



9 



tracks or other sources of much noise 
should be avoided. The auditorium 
should be suitably decorated with 
the colors of the class and with 
flowers and plants. In some schools 
it is the custom for the Junior class 
to constitute the decorating com- 
mittee. Where this is not the custom 
a decorating committee should be ap- 
pointed. The principal should see 
that the plans and arrangements of 
the decorating committee are def- 
initely made a sufScient length of 
time in advance to insure the satis- 
factory performance of their work. 
The ushers should be instructed be- 
forehand as to the best way - of seat- 
ing the auditorium, where additional 
seats may be placed, what seats are 
to be reserved for special purposes^ 
and other duties they are expected 
to perform. The auditorium should 
be well aired before the arrival of the 
audience and should be properly 
ventilated while the exercises are go- 
ing on. 



10 

The Program 

Xaturally practice varies consider- 
ably among high schools as to the 
make-up and arrangement of the 
commencement program. In some 
schools it is the custom to make it 
exclusively a class program, having 
each member of the graduating 
class take part and having no outside 
speaker for the occasion. In some 
other schools an address is provided 
for in addition to performances by all 
the members of the class. There are 
some objections to both these types 
of program. The second type is 
particularly objectionable. It is 
necessarily very long; the audience 
is almost certain to become tired and 
lose interest. If the speaker who is 
to deliver the class address is re- 
served for the latter part of the 
program, as he usually is on such 
programs, he is at a great disad- 
vantage. Both he and the audience 
are tired and his message is likely 
to be poorly delivered and poorly re- 
ceived. At a certain commencement 



11 



}-i'()grani of this kind held at nighty 
uie speaker^ who had traveled nearly 
a hundred and fifty miles to deliver 
an address to the graduating class^ 
was introduced to the audience at 
fifteen minutes till eleven o'clock. 
He spoke a few words of congratula- 
tion to the graduating class and sat 
down with the explanation that the 
hour was too late for an address. He 
would have manifested exceedingly 
poor judgment if he had done other- 
wise. But what about the judg- 
ment of the person responsible for 
the arrangement of the program? 

Usually it is better at the 
graduating exercises to have an ad- 
dress by a capable speaker than to 
have a program made up entirely of 
performances by members "of the 
class^ particularly if a speaker can 
be secured who will bring a message 
of inspiration to the class and the 
people of the community. Two or 
three members of the class may then 
be chosen to represent the class on 
the program. 



12 



The productions of the class poet, 
the class prophet and the class 
^^growler'^ should not form a part of 
the graduating program. These 
should be included in the ^'^class-dav'^ 
exercises which should form a sep- 
arate program. A very common 
practice among high schools is to 
have the ^Tlass-day" exercises in the 
afternoon of commencement day and 
the graduating exercises at night. 

The following program is sug- 
gested as a type suitable for high 
school commencements. It will 
easily permit modification, of course, 
to meet the requirements of local 
conditions. 

Music — High School orchestra or other 
music. 

Invocation — A local minister. 

Music — High School glee club or other 
music. 

Address — A member of the graduating 
class as Salutatorian, 5 to 8 minutes. 

Address — A speaker secured for the oc- 
casion. 30 to 45 minutes. 

Music — High school chorus, instrumental 
or vocal solo or other music. 



13 



Address — ^A member of the graduating 
class as Valedictorian. 5 to 8 min- 
utes. 

Address — The principal of the school re- 
ferring to the work of the year, plans 
for the ensuing year, etc. 5 to 8 
minutes. 

Presentation of diplomas — The president 
of the board of education or some 
one designated by him. 

Announcement of medals, prizes, honors, 
etc. 

Miscellaneous Suggestions 

All arrangements for commence- 
ment should be made in good time. 
The speaker should be engaged^ if 
an address is to be delivered, and 
the place of holding the exercises 
should be determined upon, several 
weeks in advance. If these matters 
are delayed, it may be found that 
someone else has engaged the speaker 
desired and that the auditorium has 
been let for other purposes. 

A definite understanding should 
be had beforehand with the speaker 
concerning the amount of his com- 
pensation, if he is to receive com- 



u 



pensation for his services, and con- 
cerning the payment of his expenses. 
This *wi\l prevent embarrassments 
that sometimes arise from neglecting 
to arrange these matters beforehand. 
And it is not out of place to say 
here that ordinarily persons who ren- 
der such services may not unreason- 
ably expect to receive compensation 
in the way of a fee or honorarium. 
Certainly in no case should a 
speaker be expected to serve without 
compensation and pay his own ex- 
penses. 

The speaker should, if possible, in- 
form the principal of the school at 
what hour he expects to arrive. He 
should be met at the train by the 
principal or someone representing 
him. Someone should also be des- 
ignated to call at the speaker^s 
hotel and accompany him to the 
place where the commencement ex- 
ercises are to be held. 

The speaker should be informed 
beforehand concerning the length 
of time allotted to his address. 



15 



The person who introduces the 
speaker need not make a lengthy 
speech of introduction. 

The exercises should begin prompt- 
ly on the hour announced and should 
be conducted throughout with 
promptness. When those w^ho have 
l^art in the program are late in ar- 
riving and when the program is life- 
less and drags, the people wish they 
had stayed at home. A gentleman 
well known and much respected in 
West Virginia remarked some time 
ago, "A high school principal may 
be judged by the way he handles his 
commencement exercises^'; and this 
gentleman was right. 

The graduating class should be in- 
structed to rise when addressed by 



the ^person who is to present the 
diploni[f ' !!j. 

The commencement exercises 
should be fully and definitely an- 
nounced through the local newspa- 
pers. 

In some rural high schools com- 
mencement day is made the occasiion 



16 



for a general community gathering. 
An invitation is extended to all the 
people of the district and families 
are requested to bring lunch baskets. 
The graduating exercises are held in 
the forenoon, a picnic dinner is 
served at noon, and ^'^Class-day^^ ex- 
ercises and athletic contests are held 
in the afternoon. This plan is an 
excellent one and it is hoped that 
more rural high schools will adopt 
it. A special invitation should be 
extended to the pupils in the upper 
grades of the rural schools through- 
out the district. It is from their 
number that the high school enroll- 
ment is to be recruited. 

If a sermon is preached to the 
graduating class on the Sunday be- 
fore commencement day, do not call 
it a "baccalaureate sermon'^ A 
"baccalaureate sermon'^ is preached 
to those about to receive degrees and 
is a college term, not a high school 
term. The sermon to the graduating 
.class of a high school may be re- 
ferred to as a "class sermon.^^ 



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